Students at Foulks Ranch Elementary School, with teacher and National Geographic Education Fellow Jim Bentley, completed the final phase of their Geo-Inquiry project to address the question, “How can we make water more accessible and reduce plastic waste in our parks and school?” The students helped Cosumnes Community Services District park administrators install a bottle-filling station […]
Outside the urban glare of Los Angeles, we found a night sky packed with stars and a still silence interrupted only by the wind’s whisper and the chatter of crickets and frogs. It was different, yet familiar. My father packed little more than a kerosene lamp, a small tent and some fishing gear for those […]
When we speak of environmental literacy for all, that “all” encompasses the vast diversity that makes up California’s 6.2 million K–12 public school population. Just as biodiversity creates more resilient ecosystems in the natural world, California’s diversity is one of its greatest strengths, and the Environmental Literacy Steering Committee engages many partners in the fields […]
Part two: A Deeper Dive Please refer to Part 1 of Kurt’s post, where he shares an in-depth look at the Get Outside with NGSS workshop! We have a unique opportunity in 2017 to invigorate public education; specifically, to elevate environment-based science learning. This exciting momentum is driven by dramatically increased recognition of the value of […]
History and Development of the Get Outside Workshops In early 2012, the California State Board of Education was on the brink of adopting the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS)—standards that would radically change how teachers would approach teaching science to their students. Anticipating the need for teacher support while transitioning to NGSS (which was adopted […]
I spent the third week of October with my 6th grade students in the Santa Cruz Mountains, learning about poison oak and banana slugs, compost and food waste, gardening and invasive plant species, and how ecosystems change as one moves higher in elevation. We ate Redwood Sorrel (tastes like green apples), munched on Douglas Fir […]
I was in class three times last week learning about land and water. The first was Laura Honda’s 4th grade class at Manor Elementary School in Fairfax, California. Laura is a Teacher Ambassador for the Education and Environment Initiative Curriculum (EEI) and uses the EEI extensively with her students. Laura was teaching Lesson 5 from […]
It was Mr. DeSanto’s biology class in 12th grade that first had me in awe over the intricate systems prevalent in all plants and animals. For me, science had always been a routine class where I did what I needed to get a good grade, but had no passion for what I was learning. Things […]